ionosphere

With the full sky shimmering in green aurora on Feb. 18, 2012, a team of scientists, including space physicist Marc Lessard and graduate students from UNH’s Space Science Center, launched an instrument-laden, two-stage sounding rocket from the Poker Flat Research Range in Fairbanks, Alaska. The precision measurements from the rocket’s instruments will shed new light on the physical processes that create the northern lights and further our understanding of the complex sun-Earth connection.